bird bones
by bonewishes
Summary: He's got sparrow wings now, brown and black and white and small compared to many others, compared to his grandmother and father. His wings are small, but Tsuna is small too, with his hollowed out bird bones and thin, thin frame.


**A/N:**

i love wing fics and khr doesn't have enough.

* * *

"All Sawada's have wings." Tsuna's grandmother tells him one day.

It's summer, hot enough for them both to sit on the back porch with their feet bare and dangling over the ledge and brushing against longer weeds. A group of cicadas sing loudly over the sound of the wind rushing through leaves and the soft ringing of the wind chimes hanging overhead.

Tsuna's young then, younger in comparison, small and meek for a boy of six years with skinny legs and wide eyes. He has plasters on his knees and scrapes on his hands from falling, either from being pushed or tripping over his own feet throughout the week.

"Do they?" he questions his grandmother, brown eyes curiously wide and a little wary as he takes another sip from his lukewarm juice box. It doesn't taste as good as it did before, but he knows better than to waste it now.

His grandmother smiles, her speckled brown and white wings make soft whispers as they move slightly against the wood. It's a soothing and familiar sound, a comforting constant in Tsuna's second home.

"Of course they do." the elder hums then, reaches a wrinkled hand out and ruffles the boy's mass of hair. It's sticking up something terrible due to the heat and humidity. Then again, it always does this no what sort of weather they have to deal with. "Doesn't matter if your mother doesn't have a singled Winged bone in her bloodline, the Sawada genes have always been strong."

Tsuna, young enough to not really question or doubt what his grandmother tells him, quickly believes her wholeheartedly. He recalls his father who comes home occasionally, how large his wings are and how they rustle and move against every surface and can span wall to wall when spread all the way out. It's amazing and admirable, something he wants to be able to do one day despite how small and how wingless he is right now.

So maybe, maybe Tsuna will be something greater and much _more_ once he can fly.

* * *

"Tsu-kun is so clumsy." His mother coos, voice not unkind but Tsuna tries not to visibly flinch at the words.

Too many bullies have sneered and laughed at him, saying similar things and using that simple fact to justify just how no good Tsuna actually is.

The doctor that's currently looking over the boy's scarred legs which are both currently blooming with bruises of various ages and sizes, nods sagely like he agrees. Tsuna has seen the man more than a few times this year for the occasional sprain and to look at cuts that seemed worse than they actually were. Some wounds were actually from sheer clumsiness and others come from bullying, though he hasn't relayed any of this information to his mother or the doctor, doesn't want his secrets told or to worry anyone unnecessarily.

"You know, there's an old wives tale about clumsiness." The doctor removes already peeling plasters with gentle hands and it only smarts a tad. "The boy's father is Winged, correct?"

Nana places a hand on her son's bird thin shoulder, pride and love dancing in her eyes and laced in her tone. "That's right, Iemitsu has the prettiest wings. They remind me of some type of hawks and his mother, Tsu-kun's grandmother, has some too."

The old doctor hums and smooths a cold ointment on cuts that haven't scabbed over yet. "Well they say that clumsy children are only so because they haven't gotten their wings to balance them out yet. If the genes are strong in Tsuna, then you can expect his to grow in once he hits puberty."

"How wonderful!" Nana brings her hands together and beams down at her son who gives a look like her excitement has shocked him; he always looks shocked about nearly everything, so it's easy to brush off. "Isn't that wonderful Tsu-kun? You'll have wings, just like your father."

Tsuna doesn't answer right away, just blinks a few times before giving a smile that isn't all that wide but at least it's there, so it has to count for something. "Y-yeah, sounds great."

* * *

 _(Truthfully, Tsuna doesn't want another reason for his mom to compare him to the man he's obligated to refer to as father. He can count how many times they've interacted on both his hands and still have fingers left over. It's a little sad and a whole lot infuriating to think about and deal with._

 _He doesn't tell her though, doesn't say how he hates when she compares them like Iemitsu has been around with them the entire. Doesn't say how he'd rather be no good and here at home than away all the time, only to act like that's okay. Because it really isn't, not at all._

 _But Tsuna is kind and doesn't want to risk upsetting the only parent he knows, so he keeps a tight lock on his feelings and deals with it through avoidance like he tends to treat all of his problems.)_

* * *

A few months after he hits thirteen, Tsuna eats more and more, snacks always in hand and crumbs on his clothes. Nana only sighs and deals with it because she read about this before, how boys eat more when puberty hits, how they should shoot up a few extra centimeters, but Tsuna doesn't seem to even reach 160. Well, he has a few more years before he finally stops growing, so she won't worry much or at all.

While her teenage son works on eating them out of house and home, he also starts complaining about how his back aches and itches all the time.

Nana calls Iemitsu when the complaining starts and doesn't stop after two days.

"Don't worry dear." Her husband sounds like his jovial self despite the loud noises in the background. "He's probably getting his wings and he might need some days off of school if the pain gets worse. You know, because his shoulder blades are sort of reforming to fit his new wings."

That sounds worrying, but Nana knows it should be okay, she'll read about it more in pamphlets and books and ask her mother-in-law for some advice. Iemitsu's an only child, but she must have done something right if he came out with such a lovely pair of wings.

Iemitsu promises he'll visit as soon as he can, like he always does despite the fact that they haven't seen him in two years. She understands, her husband is the busy sort and at least he's able to support them in his own way from afar. She won't be upset or disappointed, because next time he sees Tsuna, their boy will have beautiful wings and be able to touch the sky.

* * *

Tsuna takes a week off of school when Nana sees him sporting bleeding and flaking scabs and raw spots on his back and wincing every time he has to moves his shoulders.

His grandmother comes over that week too, bringing along miles of yarn and several pairs of knitting needles.

The elder doesn't mix any odd elixirs to sooth the pain or brew an ointment to keep the area from getting infected. Something Tsuna expected her to do since she always talks about home remedies and the like.

"If we disturb the natural process, they won't grow right." She explains. "Like if you try to help a butterfly while it emerges out of its cocoon. It won't end right at all."

So it ends up just being her and her needles making soothing _click-click-clack_ sounds as she constructs something new.

* * *

It's on the following Saturday, that Tsuna's wings finally break from his flesh, small and slick with blood, and lay oddly warm against his back. They're fledging wings, naked and vulnerable to the world, easily breakable like himself he swears. Damage to them in this state might be permanent though and that's a scary thought. His clumsiness might be his downfall.

"Gross." He hisses and tries to move them just for the hell of it, but realize he's too tired to do so and they're too weak to do anything but shake pathetically against his back.

His mother and grandmother have exact opposite reactions because they always do. They both coo and croon and look on at him proudly, like he's just accomplished something great. His mother even snaps a few pictures once he's all cleaned up.

"I'll place them in the scrapbook once they're developed. Your papa would love to see how they first looked." She nods looking proud of herself, camera held close to her chest and she looks like she's about cry.

"We should go to the store tomorrow, get you some new clothes we can cut holes into." Grandmother hums and looks wise in the way only an old person can manage. "I finished that sweater for you. It'll be chilly tomorrow so make sure you wear that. I think I estimated properly where your holes should be."

Tsuna just makes a disgruntled noise at their words and flops face first into his pillow, exhausted and relieved at the same time.

* * *

Nearly three years pass in a strange sort of way as his wings fully mature and grow. Tsuna's stuck in a puberty longer than most of his classmates due to his genes. He drops fledging down for months and molts near constantly after the fact and because he can't groom himself as well as he should. He feels bad for the messes he leaves behind, and simultaneously hates them because they draw more attention to himself than he'd like.

Winged individuals are rare in Namimori, not because there aren't that many around the world, but because the town is small, just barely visible on a map. Those that grow wings either need large open spaces to fly or prefer bustling cities where more of their kind is located. Flocking his grandmother calls it, like calls to like after all. Apparently the sparse number of Winged in the community is dwindling each generation in the sleepy little town, either because they've moved or because the gene ends up not getting passed to the kids.

It's his wings that further set him apart from the rest of the people his age, leaves him open for more bullying and different names to be called. The small handfuls of other teens that bear wings at Namimori High don't want to associate with him even with their now similar circumstances. Tsuna's been a social outcast since even before middle school and nothing is going to change that.

As the years pass he gets better at avoiding the bullying though, keeps wings poised and ready for flight if he hears heavy footsteps approaching. He learns how to take off without needing that much of a running start and loses his fear of jumping out of windows because his wings automatically snap open to carry him to safety or make his landing softer.

It annoys the staff, he knows, since he's the only student that does this besides Hibari Kyouya, but there are laws against restricting their flight during breaks or when school isn't technically in session. Even then, Tsuna feels that if Hibari didn't have a pair of grey and black wings to carry him, he'd probably still jump out windows without batting an eyelash.

* * *

"What are you doing?" Tsuna shouts his question through the open door so it reaches his mom who is flitting around near the kitchen humming to herself.

He's been trying his best at his weekly grooming like he always does on Sundays. Sitting on the back porch and leaving a pile of loose feathers for his mom to do whatever she wants with. She mostly just makes them into trinkets or accessories or jewelry, whatever she can find online honestly. She sometimes wears feathers in her hair or lets them dangle from earrings and Tsuna loves her too much to find it odd.

"Your father's coming home." She sings songs sounding more like a high school girl than anything. "And he's bringing an important guest, so I'm getting ready for the both of them. Isn't that exciting Tsu-kun?"

"Sure." He answers dryly after a beat and hisses sharply when he tugs the wrong feather out.

Tsuna hasn't seen his dad since he was fourteen and moody. His wings weren't even fully developed so he had to deal with an odd combination of down, bald spots, and baby feathers and the teasing at school he got because of it didn't help his mood at all. Tsuna is actually pretty sure he didn't even talk to his dad during his last visit, not really, just avoided him as much as he could and kept their conversations short. He doesn't even think the man noticed anything different.

"Yeah." Tsuna sighs low and under his breath. "Just great."

* * *

Tsuna's grandmother taught him about birds once, when he still had his fledgling down and there was a game to play from guessing what bird his wings would be fashioned after.

 _(He's got sparrow wings now, brown and black and white and small compared to many others, compared to his grandmother and father. His wings are small, but Tsuna is small too, with his hollowed out bird bones and thin, thin frame._

 _"They are small, but mighty birds." Grandma had told him while admiring the then newly permanent plumage that had grown in._

 _It was enough to make him feel less self-conscious about his sparrow wings.)_

Grandma informed him often, mostly of old wives tales concerning birds and things she had picked up from over the years. Said the symbolism of a Winged's bird could influence their future or gauge who they were in the past life. Tsuna never really believed her, only went along and humored her because that felt like the right thing to do since she lives alone and their each other's favorite people.

Tsuna feels inclined to take her words to heart however, when he sees his father's visitor for the first time.

The man has a black suit and great black wings and black eyes, so much black that Tsuna fears that all light that comes in contact with him gets sucked up.

Ravens are sometimes seen as prophetic birds, those that carry messages of great changes to come for lucky or unlucky individuals.

The man with the great black wings, who claims his name is Reborn of all things, speaks to Tsuna three hours into his initial arrival. He says the boy is to inherit a great family legacy, that he is the only one that can take on this task.

"You'll be the head of the greatest mafia family in the world, the Vongola." He tells him, and the setting sun does not reflect on his ink black wings.

Tsuna feels very inclined not to believe it, but when has a messenger ever been wrong?

* * *

 **A/N:**

Thanks so much for reading! Reviews are greatly appreciated!

I'm pretty fond of this au, so i'll probably write more it at a later date so keep an eye out!


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